<p>Abstract</p><p><strong>Date: </strong>2010-05-28</p><p><strong>Authors</strong>:        Aamer Shahzad & Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah.</p><p><strong>Advisor: </strong>Mr. Konstantin Lampou</p><p><strong>Program: </strong>M.S. International Marketing</p><p><strong>Title: </strong><em>If and how environmental friendliness be a profitable marketing strategy in the current recession? </em><em>A comparative study on managements’ perspectives at two food retailers in Sweden.</em><em> </em></p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>During the current recession, consumers are not as much willing to pay more for green but expensive products as were in the past. However, despite this changing consumer attitude, food retailers in Sweden claim their marketing strategy as environmentally friendly. When maximizing profits is considered major corporate goal of every business, investigating the managements’ point of view on environmental friendliness as profitable marketing strategy in the recession period becomes an interesting topic for research.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The objective of this paper is to get insight on management’s perspectives from large-scale food retailers in Sweden on their choice of environmental friendliness as marketing strategy with respect to profitability in the current recession.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This qualitative study utilizes realist approach to research and exploratory research method. Through literature review, a conceptual model was developed for study. Primary data comes from interviews whereas secondary data from websites and annual reports of the companies.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The green marketing strategy is profitable even in recession as it is a great source of competitive advantage and numerous profitable opportunities. This commitment to environment in hard times yields favorable reputation and helps companies in developing new products; finding new markets and suppliers; expanding customer-base; improving processes and stores; enhancing efficiency; etc.</p><p><strong>Key Words: </strong>Environmental friendliness, green marketing strategy, food retailers in Sweden, green products, impact of recession, profitability, communication.</p>

Abstract Date: 2010-05-28 Authors:        Aamer Shahzad &amp; Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah. Advisor: Mr. Konstantin Lampou Program: M.S. International Marketing Title: If and how environmental friendliness be a profitable marketing strategy in the current recession? A comparative study on managements’ perspectives at two food retailers in Sweden. Problem: During the current recession, consumers are not as much willing to pay more for green but expensive products as were in the past. However, despite this changing consumer attitude, food retailers in Sweden claim their marketing strategy as environmentally friendly. When maximizing profits is considered major corporate goal of every business, investigating the managements’ point of view on environmental friendliness as profitable marketing strategy in the recession period becomes an interesting topic for research. Purpose: The objective of this paper is to get insight on management’s perspectives from large-scale food retailers in Sweden on their choice of environmental friendliness as marketing strategy with respect to profitability in the current recession. Method: This qualitative study utilizes realist approach to research and exploratory research method. Through literature review, a conceptual model was developed for study. Primary data comes from interviews whereas secondary data from websites and annual reports of the companies. Conclusion: The green marketing strategy is profitable even in recession as it is a great source of competitive advantage and numerous profitable opportunities. This commitment to environment in hard times yields favorable reputation and helps companies in developing new products; finding new markets and suppliers; expanding customer-base; improving processes and stores; enhancing efficiency; etc. Key Words: Environmental friendliness, green marketing strategy, food retailers in Sweden, green products, impact of recession, profitability, communication.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to gain a holistic understanding of the reflection ofemployee empowerment practiced in the customer's perception of service quality in serviceencounters. Research Method: Exploratory research method based on a single case study Results: Through the analysis of both primary and secondary data, it has been found thatemployee empowerment practice is reflected in customer perception of service quality through improved service delivery provided by empowered frontline employees. Research limitations: This is a single case study, which is confined to the activities of onesmall company related to the health industry in Mexico. The choice of conducting theresearch only focusing on one company ignoring others can not open a true reflection of theentire problem. Practical implications: The results may be applicable for companies which in some extenthave similar retailing and services activities. Originality/value: This research makes a contribution to the existing literature on employeeempowerment by adding relevant qualitative data.

Submitted by Andre Silva (andre_luiz_b_silva@hotmail.com) on 2017-03-20T20:22:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 A Construção da Legitimidade do Empreendedor Institucional na Revitalização dos Polos Varejistas de Rua.pdf: 845884 bytes, checksum: d120383824ee968388dd0d395298a23e (MD5) / Rejected by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br), reason: Bom dia André, Para que possamos dar andamento ao seu trabalho é necessário alguns ajustes. Você deverá colocar o titulo do seu trabalho em letra maiúscula. RESUMO E ABSTRACT, deve conter apenas de 150 a 500, ou seja apenas um lauda. Apos os ajustes submeter novamente seu trabalho. Qualquer duvida estamos a disposição. Att, Pâmela Tonsa 3799-7852 on 2017-03-21T14:56:43Z (GMT) / Submitted by Andre Silva (andre_luiz_b_silva@hotmail.com) on 2017-03-21T15:24:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 A Construção da Legitimidade do Empreendedor Institucional na Revitalização dos Polos Varejistas de Rua.pdf: 844579 bytes, checksum: 0664fdfb0b6458a5bfcd8a1c94fb3d68 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2017-03-21T15:46:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 A Construção da Legitimidade do Empreendedor Institucional na Revitalização dos Polos Varejistas de Rua.pdf: 844579 bytes, checksum: 0664fdfb0b6458a5bfcd8a1c94fb3d68 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-21T16:02:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 A Construção da Legitimidade do Empreendedor Institucional na Revitalização dos Polos Varejistas de Rua.pdf: 844579 bytes, checksum: 0664fdfb0b6458a5bfcd8a1c94fb3d68 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-22 / High street retailers play an important role in the vitality of cities. However, due to market changes and the rapid expansion of direct competitors, their survival has been threatened. One of the strategies to reverse this process is the project of revitalization that aims to raise the attractiveness of the high street retailers. In Brazil, unlike the international context, there is no institutionalized model with specific legislation that allows a cohesive articulation and mobilization for the revitalization process between the public and private sectors. In some Brazilian states, few initiatives have been developed due to the concerns of some retailers in the high street retailers or of organizations outside the field. These retail leaders became institutional entrepreneurs (IE) because they were actors who made strong efforts to modify and structure the organizational field for the street retailers. However, to act as IE these retailers had to build their legitimacy among their peers and later with external institutions. But this process of building legitimacy requires a lot of effort from the IE, otherwise it will not be able to propose the deinstitutionalization of the existing structures in search for new organizational forms. Throughout this context, the main objective of this research is to describe how IE build their legitimacy in fields not yet institutionalized, as is the case of the high street retailers in Brazil, and how these "pre-emergent" fields influence this process. With the proposal to clarify these issues, this research was based on a qualitative approach and applied a multiple case study design. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with retailers that acted as institutional entrepreneurs in the revitalization project, totaling eight high street retailers in Brazil. In addition to the interviews, observations, collection, analysis of documents made available by the entrepreneurs and research of secondary data on the web were carried out to add depth to the case studies. Our results showed the difficulties of retail entrepreneurs to raise the degree of maturity of the high street retailers the presentation of a structured project, with collective benefits and with the purpose of increasing local attractiveness, was not sufficient to guarantee the construction of the legitimacy of the retail institutional entrepreneur in its integrity. In addition, our analysis s indicated a strong influence of the precarious degree of institutionalization of the high street retailers in the construction of the legitimacy of the retail institutional entrepreneur (RIE). The high street retailers were positioned in the organizational field in such a poorly structured stage that we have come to call it the “pre-emergent” field. Thus, our research generates contribution to better describe how institutional entrepreneurs retailers sought to build their legitimacy among their peers and towards the other social actors outside the high street retailers. We also contribute to generating managerial recommendations for the high street retailers itself, as well as for public policies to effectively support and even stimulate the high street retailers’ revitalization process and thus avoid the phenomena of degradation in the central areas of cities / Os polos varejistas de rua assumem um papel relevante na vitalidade das cidades. No entanto, devido às mudanças de mercado e a rápida expansão de concorrentes diretos, sua sobrevivência vem sendo ameaçada. Uma das estratégias empregadas no intuito de tentar reverter este processo são representadas por intermédio de projetos de revitalização fundamentados na proposta de elevar a atratividade dos polos de ruas. No Brasil, diferentemente do contexto internacional, não existe um modelo institucionalizado resguardado por uma legislação específica que permita uma articulação e mobilização coesa para o processo de revitalização, viabilizando uma interação positiva entre o setor público e o privado. Em alguns estados brasileiros, algumas iniciativas surgiram em razão de inquietações de alguns varejistas e/ou organizações externas ao campo. Esses líderes varejistas se transformaram em empreendedores institucionais (EI), pois assumiram a condição de atores imbuídos de fortes esforços, a fim de modificar e estruturar o campo organizacional para os polos varejistas de rua. Frente a todo esse esforço estes varejistas precisaram construir a sua legitimidade entre os seus pares e, posteriormente, com instituições externas, caso contrário, não conseguirá propor a desinstitucionalização das estruturas vigentes, em busca de novas formas organizacionais. Dito isto, tem-se como o objetivo principal, nessa pesquisa, ressaltar a oportunidade de descrever como o EI constrói a sua legitimidade em campos ainda não institucionalizados; como são tratados os casos que envolvem os polos de rua no Brasil; e de que maneira estes campos “pré-emergentes” influenciam esse processo. Esta pesquisa fundamentou-se na abordagem qualitativa, aplicando um desenho de estudo de caso múltiplo. Foram realizadas uma série de entrevistas semiestruturadas envolvendo varejistas que atuaram como EI no projeto de revitalização, totalizando oito polos varejistas espalhados pelo Brasil. Também foram realizadas observações, coleta, análise de documentos disponibilizados pelos empreendedores e pesquisa de dados secundários realizados na web, no intuito de agregarem profundidade aos estudos de caso. Os resultados trouxeram à tona amostras das dificuldades encontradas pelos empreendedor institucional varejista (EIV) diante da pretensão de elevarem o grau de maturidade do polo varejista. A apresentação de um projeto estruturado, com benefícios coletivos e com o propósito de ampliar a atratividade local não foram suficientes para garantir a construção da legitimidade do EIV, na sua integridade. Além disso, nossas análises indicaram uma forte influência do precário grau de institucionalização do polo varejista na construção da legitimidade do EIV. Averiguou-se que os polos varejistas estavam posicionados no campo organizacional em um estágio pouco estruturado, a ponto serem caracterizados como campos pré-emergentes. Assim, a nossa pesquisa gera uma contribuição valorativa ao procurar descrever, da melhor forma possível, como os EIV buscaram construir a sua legitimidade entre os seus pares, assim como perante os demais atores sociais externos ao polo. Em outro viés, contribuímos também com o avanço proposto nessa pesquisa ao viabilizar recomendações gerenciais para o próprio polo, e também para que políticas públicas passem a apoiar, de forma efetiva, todo esse processo, estimulando a revitalização de polos, evitando-se, com isso, fenômenos de degradação de áreas centrais das cidades.

This study is designed as an exploratory empirical attempt to audit the effectiveness with which retail buyers select fashion wearing apparel that meets needs and wants of their constituent target markets. This study presents the retail buyer of fashion wearing apparel as the "gatekeeper" who controls the flow of apparel products through various "checkpoints" as these products move from producer to consumer, thus controlling product availability. This study has a three-fold purpose. The first is to determine if significant differences exist between retail buyers' selections (ratings) and constituent market selections (ratings) when given like; alternatives on manufacturing levels. The second is to determine whether differences exist between the extents to which department store retail buyers and specialty store retail buyers meet the needs and wants of their constituent markets. The third purpose is to determine if significant differences exist between sales performances of like and unlike retail buyer/consumer choices.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O ambiente competitivo tem, ao longo dos anos, se mostrado um elemento mutante para as empresas que o compÃe. AlÃm desta alteraÃÃo no ambiente competitivo, um novo fenÃmeno integra este cenÃrio: a colaboraÃÃo interorganizacional. Desta forma, torna-se interessante verificar situaÃÃes onde a competiÃÃo foi alterada pela presenÃa da colaboraÃÃo, verificando se esta nova forma de competir proporciona melhorias no desempenho das empresas participantes e, alÃm disso, quais os fatores que podem explicar esta melhora na competitividade. O segmento do aftermarket de autopeÃas nacional vive uma profunda mudanÃa em seus canais de distribuiÃÃo, comprimindo a figura do varejo que, para responder a tais mudanÃas, tem se unido e constituÃdo diversas aÃÃes, dentre elas a formaÃÃo da Rede Ãncora de AutopeÃas. As redes de colaboraÃÃo interorganizacional, como apontam Liczbinski e Bittencourt (2003), Zineldin (2004) e Parung e Bititci (2006), tÃm o potencial de contribuir para a competitividade das empresas que a integram, uma vez que permite acesso a informaÃÃes, recursos, mercados e tecnologias, que ampliam as vantagens econÃmicas no tocante ao aprendizado, Ãs escalas e escopo de produÃÃo ou de comercializaÃÃo. PorÃm, embora as possibilidades de incremento na competitividade por meio de atuaÃÃo em redes de colaboraÃÃo jà sejam amplamente discutidas na literatura, sua mensuraÃÃo ainda apresenta desafios, nÃo tendo ainda um modelo validado e jà aplicado empiricamente para a mensuraÃÃo da competitividade de organizaÃÃes que atuam inseridas em redes de colaboraÃÃo. Liczbinski e Bittencourt (2003) e Wegner e Dahmer (2004) propÃem modelos de avaliaÃÃo que proporciona a anÃlise via trÃs dimensÃes analÃticas: Individual, Relacional e Estrutural. Desta forma, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa à verificar a influÃncia dos fatores estruturais e relacionais na percepÃÃo do desempenho pelos gestores das empresas que integram a Rede Ãncora de Pernambuco. O estudo de natureza quantitativa foi realizado por meio de uma pesquisa de campo junto as empresas participantes dessa rede, participaram da pesquisa dezoito empresas. Foram utilizados como instrumentos de coleta uma entrevista semiestruturada com o atual presidente da rede Ãncora de Pernambuco e um questionÃrio aplicado junto aos gestores dessa empresas. Para o tratamento dos dados advindos do questionÃrio foram usadas as seguintes tÃcnicas: estatÃstica descritiva e regressÃo mÃltipla. Na anÃlise da regressÃo mÃltipla foram utilizados dois modelos economÃtricos, o recÃproco e o logrecÃproco, uma vez que a literatura nÃo apontava um modelo empÃrico jà testado. No caso da entrevista fez-se uso da tÃcnica de anÃlise de conteÃdo. Com os resultados obtidos confirma-se estatisticamente a relaÃÃo entre a dimensÃo estrutural e a dimensÃo relacional e o desempenho percebido pelos gestores. Como consideraÃÃes finais apresenta-se uma anÃlise quantitativa via modelos economÃtricos aplicados a anÃlise do desempenho em empresas inseridas em redes de colaboraÃÃo interorganizacional, contribuindo com a melhora no entendimento e em implicaÃÃes gerenciais. / The competitive environment has, over the years, proved a mutant element for companies that compose it. Apart from this change in the competitive environment, a new phenomenon is part of this scenario: interorganizational collaboration. Thus, it is interesting to see situations where the competition was altered by the presence of collaboration, making sure that this new form of racing provides performance improvements of participating companies and also what factors may explain this improvement in competitiveness. The segment of the national auto parts aftermarket is experiencing a profound change in its distribution channels, compressing the image of retail, to respond to such changes, have joined and formed several actions, including the formation of the Network Ancora Auto Parts. Networks of interorganizational collaboration, as indicated Liczbinski and Bittencourt (2003), Zineldin (2004) and Parung and Bititci (2006), have the potential to contribute to the competitiveness of companies belonging to it, since it allows access to information, resources , markets and technologies that expand the economic advantages with respect to learning, the scope and scale of production or marketing. However, although the possibilities of increase in competitiveness by acting in collaboration networks are already widely discussed in literature, its measurement still presents challenges, not yet a validated model and already applied empirically to measure the competitiveness of organizations that work included in collaborative networks. Liczbinski and Bittencourt (2003) and Wegner and Dahmer (2004) propose models of evaluation that provides the analysis via three analytical dimensions: Individual, Relational and Structural. Thus, the objective of this research is to examine the influence of structural and relational factors in the perception of performance by managers of firms in the Network Ancora Auto Parts in Pernambuco. The quantitative study was conducted through a field research on the companies participating in this Network Ancora Auto Parts, eighteen companies participated in the survey. The instruments used were a collection of semi-structured interview with the current president of the Network Ancora Auto Parts of Pernambuco and a questionnaire addressed to the managers of such companies. For the treatment of data coming from the questionnaire were used the following techniques: descriptive statistics and multiple regression. In multiple regression analysis were used two econometric models, reciprocal model and the logreciprocal model, since the literature did not indicate an empirical model has been tested. In the case of the interview was made using the technique of content analysis. With these results it is confirmed statistically the relationship between the structural and relational dimension and the performance perceived by managers. As finally considerations we present a quantitative analysis via the econometric models applied to analysis of performance in companies incorporated in networks of interorganizational collaboration, contributing to improvements in understanding and managerial implications.

The aim of this master thesis is to define fast fashion and fast fashion retailing, and describe specifics of their business activities with deep focus on the Czech market. The theoretical part reviews literature dealing with international strategy and management and fashion and fast fashion retailing. The empirical part then focuses on real-life business cases. In order to illustrate the behaviour of fast fashion retailers on the Czech market, a case study method is employed. The attention is narrowed on three chosen fast fashion retailers MANGO, Zara and H&M. The separate case studies on MANGO, Zara and H&M focus on retailers' presence in the Czech market. The retailers' position on the market and strategies are then compared with the aim to identify the most successful fast fashion retailer and verify whether the hypothesis that the first mover to the market gains the competitive advantage is true for the chosen fast fashion retailers in the Czech market. Further, the work tries to find possible factors of the retailers' success in the Czech market.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Since the beginning of the nineteen-eighties factory shops in the clothing industry in the Cape Peninsula have had an increasing influence on the retail trade. Originally factory shops were mainly used by factories to sell damaged goods at the end of the season. On account of the (particularly) short product life cycle of their merchandise, clothing factories started to use factory shops more and more to sell quality clothes (e.g. overproduction, canceled orders, etc.) of a current season directly to the consumer. This approach brought about conflicts in the distribution channel as the traditional responsibilities and values of each channel member were rearranged. The clothing industry in South Africa in general, and in the Cape Peninsula, in particular, is controlled by 6 retailers. The forward integration by clothing factories (i.e. through establishing their factory outlets), inter alia, challenging the status quo as the leadership of the distribution channel had been questioned. Based on certain theories on distribution channel development and distribution channel entry, this study concentrated on determining the scope of factory shops, as well as on "establishing reasons for their development. Although environmental variables (e.g. inflation, backward vertical integration by retailers, economic conditions, etc.) have had a significant impact on the establishment of factory shops, clothing factories also realized the existence of excellent opportunities for profit maximization under adverse economic conditions. Primarily, it was the small who rose against factory threatened; in addition, independent clothing retailers shops as their existence was the leading position of large retailers came under threat. Several theories on the evolution of distribution channels make provision for the entry of factory shops. Factory shops entered the distribution channel with a strong emphasis on price strategy and little (or sometimes even no) emphasis on the non-price marketing instruments. However" with time factory shops increasingly incorporated non-price marketing instruments (e.g. promotion, distribution, and product). As a result of their incorporating additional services, factory shops were upgraded and may therefore face new competitors in the future. The South African experience of the influence and permanency of factory shops is too short to present any clear guidelines. However, if the development of factory shops in the retail structure of the United States of America is any indicator, factory shops will be a permanent add it ion to the distribution channel. Factory shops in the U. S.A. are not confined to the clothing industry but have expanded to include every imaginable consumer article. Retailers who originally pressurized clothing factories to close their factory outlets (selling quality and in-season merchandise) with have to accept and adapt to this interchange in the type of competition. Failing this, the independent retailer may disappear. Since the development of the hypermarket concept in the seventies, developments in the distribution channel in retailing stagnated. The consumer, therefore, was susceptible to the change that the entry of factory shops has brought about in the distribution channel of the clothing industry in the Cape Peninsula.

The rise of sustainable food products in Germany highlights the desire of German consumers for food which was produced with respect to the three themes of sustainability, the environment, animal welfare and social aspects. Despite this development, previous research showed, that labels and claims used at the POS to promote sustainable food products, cause difficulties for consumers such as distrust or consumer confusion when searching and evaluating these products. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the German supermarket and discounter customers are able to understand sustainable information at the POS and consequently identify sustainable food products. In order to examine this, a qualitative approach was chosen where nine semi-structured interviews with German consumers were conducted. The interviews contained an experimental part, where the consumers’ search and evaluation processes were tested. The results of this thesis show that difficulties in identifying sustainable food products exist in terms of trustworthiness of the information provided on the products especially in case of brand names and unknown sustainability labels. Furthermore, spin-off effects between sustainable products and less sustainable, conventional products were observed, where a positive evaluation of a sustainable product, negatively affected the evaluation of another product. Next to these difficulties, motivational conflicts were found to be a major obstacle for consumers when evaluating sustainable products. These findings implicate that manufactures and retailers need to carefully choose which and how they present sustainable information at the POS, as this is decisive for the successful search and evaluation process of their customers.

The increased interest and awareness of sustainability from an consumer perspective has also implicated increased interest among furniture and interior retailers. Sustainability does not only imply environmentally friendly products and have become a discussed topic in multiple contexts. Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) have been implemented in several businesses to align with what society demands, which includes sustainability in multiple aspects. The increased interest for this matter has also implied communicating CSR practices as an answer to consumers and stakeholders demands. CSR and communication has a strong connection in theory but excludes detailed CSR communication strategies.  Therefore, in this thesis, the aim is to gain a deeper understanding for CSR communication strategies from a consumer perspective in the form of a content analysis of the Swedish furniture and interior retailers. The purpose is to benefit both a theoretical and managerial perspective with contribution of CSR communication strategies main foundation.  The research that has been conducted is a content analysis of 8 companies' content conveyed in their communication. The content analysis includes sustainability reports, CSR related documents and annual reports that have been analyzed from the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework. To fortify the research, a deductive approach with previous research has been conducted to analyze the findings.  The conclusion of the research results in a clear pattern of content conveyed by furniture and interior retailers. Presentation of goals and practices, including only positive CSR material and a focus on the environmental aspect are distinct. The large and less complex retailers convey their CSR practices more than smaller and more complex retailers. Conclusion can also be drawn that the economical aspect is often underlying in the conveyed content and the three aspects of TBL are often merged together.